Need to Know: Finding Government Publications with Google

A lot of US government information is freely available and searchable on the web. Using Google is pretty effective using the site limiter with your term. Just type, for example:

biosurveillance site:.gov

This will find any url ending in .gov with biosurveillance in the text.

.gov is used by some cities, counties, states and federal government entities use: there are, or course, other urls that may be relevant, such as .tx.us or .org or .mil. Then just modify the search for these endings.

This type of search can also be used to search the longer url:

Defense Department info is site:.defense.gov or site:.dod.gov (both are used)

French government documents can be found with site:.gouv.fr while Spanish government documents are site:.gob.es

The convention is not universal but it can help locate and narrow information down government information. State government sites may have various url syntaxes that need to be taken into account:

Californiahas site:.ca.gov

Texas mainly uses site:.tx.us

Florida uses site:.fl.us; however the Governor's site is site:.flgov.com and the various agencies have different url roots.

For some information on the ranking factors Google uses in its search:

Security and Military Policy

the most comprehensive collection available of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Over 58,000 of the most important, declassified documents "totaling more than 450,000 pages” are included in the database.

provides access to important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources such as theses and reports from various universities, organizations and local and state agencies.

a collection of more than 75,000 documents, consisting of more than 465,000 pages, declassified documents from various government agencies, including the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and others.

Constitutions and Treaties

provides access to all multilateral United Nations and League of Nations treaties searchable by multiple criteria. Information on Participants, Declarations and Reservations made upon ratification and notes available.

"Access the basic legal texts on which the European Union and the European Communities are founded: the founding Treaties (original versions and later updatings) and the amending Treaties, plus other essential documents such as the Constitution."

International Monetary Fund "is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world."

Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development works "to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems."

World Trade Organization "is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments."